Chapter 18 Freya
I didn’t know if I meant it. Only that after what had occurred the prior night, it seemed the safer path to walk toward. There was no future where I could envision fully trusting Bjorn again, but also no future where I trusted myself around him.
“We should go now,” I said. “Saga, you will make Harald understand? We won’t need to worry about him trying to stop us?”
“He will argue,” she replied. “But he will abide by my judgment.” A sharp whistle drew the wolves to her side, where they sat with their tongues lolling. “As will his pets.”
“Do you wish for more time?” I felt cruel because this plan necessitated Bjorn being gone from Nordeland for years upon years. Perhaps even forever, lest dark fates weave themselves back into existence. “We could delay—”
“Any delay might cost us everything,” Saga interrupted. “Take what you need and ride hard and fast. Begin setting the trail before Snorri has the chance to set sail to Nordeland.”
I heard the unspoken words. If he hasn’t set sail already.
Twin tears trickled down Saga’s face. “I will miss you, my son. Miss you more than you’ll ever know, but this sacrifice is small compared to the alternatives. Go now and go with my—”
She cut off, her chin snapping upward and her eyes rolling back in her head, her body twitching.
Oh gods. “Bjorn, what’s happening to her?”
“It’s a vision.” He caught hold of his mother’s arms, holding her steady. “There’s nothing to do but wait to hear what Odin chose to show her.”
I held my breath, my heart thundering with anticipation.
Then Saga spoke, her voice hollow and strange. “A son of Skaland, a false king, sails forth on a wave of darkness. Lies unite the clans, their banners a harbinger of death, their battle cries heard in the realms of gods and men. All tangled in the shield maiden’s thread. All drawn by her call. And in their wake, they will leave weeping widows, orphaned children, and a feast for the carrion crows, their fates certain unless the shield maiden cuts her thread free of the false king’s control and weaves her new destiny.”
“Snorri,” I breathed even as Saga collapsed into her son’s arms.
Saga pressed fingers to her head, tears running down her cheeks. “So much death. So much loss.” A sob tore from her lips. “He is coming. He is coming for her.”
Cold certainty filled my veins, my mouth tasting sour. It didn’t matter that I was no longer within Snorri’s reach, because he had still used me to unite the clans of Skaland beneath his rule. The only thing that had changed was that I was no longer sailing to war alongside him but was now the justification for an invasion. “Snorri still controls my fate.”
Bjorn’s eyes snapped to me. “There is no reason to believe this has come to pass. This could be the distant future, we do not know.”
“Saga?” I dropped to my knees before her. “Has Snorri already set sail? How much time do we have?”
“I do not know. It could be tomorrow. A year from now. Or a decade.” Bjorn’s mother wiped tears from her face. “All I know is that in your name, Nordeland will suffer.”
And seers could not lie.
I sat down heavily, melted snow and mud soaking into my trousers. No matter how I felt about Nordeland, this was not a future I wanted. Not a war I wanted.
I couldn’t escape it by running—that was growing clearer to me by the second.
“Whatever you are thinking, push it from your thoughts.” Bjorn grasped my shoulders. “Gathering an army and the ships needed to transport it takes time. There is no reason to believe he’s already set sail, because that borders on impossibility. We head to the coast and ensure that we are seen by merchants boarding a ship sailing south. Leave a trail that he cannot deny or, at least, the jarls who are sworn to him cannot deny.” His grip tightened. “Snorri doesn’t know you have Hel’s magic. He doesn’t know what you can do. There is only so much Skaland will risk for the sake of a magic shield.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Snorri’s face consumed my thoughts, his expression filled with fanatical self-certainty. “It’s not just me he wants—it’s revenge against Harald. And in my name, he now has an army capable of achieving it.”
Disappearing south would change nothing. Hiding in the wilds like Saga would change nothing. Dying would change nothing. All Snorri needed was my name, his zealotry, and the bad blood between the nations to unite Skaland’s clans against Nordeland. War was coming. Could be sailing this way right now.
How could I stopit?
Saga had said that the only way to change fate was to do something the Norns had never considered I might do. Which meant something I’d never considered doing.
Or…did it mean something I couldn’t do?
The answer rose in my chest. The one path I’d yet to take a step down because I’d sworn a blood oath forbiddingit.
Taking a deep breath, I said, “I have to cut Snorri’s thread.”